1792-1871
male
raku pottery
Watanabe Yujitsuan was from Okutono in Owari Province (present-day Okutonocho in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture).
He was born the second son of Osumi Province mayor Noritomo, who was part of the Matsudaira family. He became the adoptive heir to his uncle, Watanabe Hanzo-tsunamitsu, and took on the surname Watanabe. Afterward, he governed the Terabe region in Mikawa Province (the eastern part of present-day Aichi Prefecture) as the 10th-generation castle lord.
He had an affinity for tea ceremony and, after ending his time living in seclusion, he set up a hut in Ozone, Nagoya, where he adopted the artist name “Yujitsuan” and began creating Raku ware-style tea bowls. Later, these works would come to be called “Sogen ware.” His younger brother was the 11th-generation master of the Urasenke school of tea ceremony, Gengensai Soshitsu.
